It will cost $6,000 to apply for a license. The 48-page application is available online.

The Michigan Medical Marijuana Licensing Board is expected to begin awarding licenses in the first quarter of 2018.

The five-tiered licensing system for growers, processors, testers, secure transporters and dispensaries is being developed under a 2016 law that more tightly regulated medical marijuana and aimed to address confusion surrounding a 2008 voter-approved law that legalized marijuana for medical use. The new law imposes a 3 percent tax on provisioning centers.

According to the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, applicants have two options:

Pre-qualification: This allows the business to fill out and submit the application before it has received approval from the community in which it wants to locate or if it hasn’t secured a location for the business. The state can do a full background check on the business and its owners. License qualification: This includes all the necessary information for a license, including a location and approval from a community that has adopted an ordinance that will allow medical marijuana businesses.

Earlier this month, Gov. Rick Snyder issued rules policing the medical marijuana businesses. The emergency rules will remain in effect for at least six months until permanent ones are finalized. They regulate varied topics including advertising, security requirements and how much capital businesses must have to get into growing, processing, selling, transporting or testing marijuana.

The state had previously given guidance on major issues such as the status of existing dispensary shops that have been operating under a legal cloud, ultimately deciding they can